The Dark Side of Recreational Marijuana Legalization

Twenty-four states have already legalized recreational marijuana (pot), and four states—Florida, Idaho, Nebraska, and South Dakota—have ballot initiatives on the 2024 ballot to do the same. A lot of money is being spent pushing these ballot initiatives, because a lot more money is going to be made. No matter what you’ve heard about the benefits of legal recreational pot, there’s a destructive, dark side that’s being covered up.

If recreational marijuana is legalized, the following consequences will occur:

1. There are more accidents on the highway in which drivers under the influence of marijuana are killed or injured.⁽¹⁾

2. More ER visits due to drug overdoses in children, students and adults.⁽²⁾

3. There is an increase in serious crime as more and more drug barons seek to undermine the expensive legal product.⁽³⁾

4. Brain damage to the developing mind.⁽⁴⁾

5. Agricultural land is being taken over by growing cannabis instead of food crops.

6. Higher tax revenues will primarily lead to new government programs targeting addiction, health and safety. ⁽⁵⁾

7. Black market sales of more dangerous drugs will increase due to the entry-level nature of marijuana. ⁽⁶⁾

Receive our latest news for FREE

Subscribe to receive a daily/weekly email with the top stories (plus special offers!) from The Christian Post. Be the first to know.

To be clear, most states have legalized “medical” marijuana for the sick. This editorial is about recreational marijuana. The sole purpose of “recreational” marijuana is to get high, not to treat a medical condition. Also, don’t equate recreational marijuana use with alcohol. People don’t necessarily drink to get drunk, while recreational pot users primarily want to get high.

My husband and I experienced what legalizing marijuana did in Colorado and then moved to Florida. Legalization was supposed to reduce crime, but “serious” drug crime has actually increased.⁽⁷⁾ Of course, if you want to consider arrests for possession of a bag of weed a crime, then that type of crime was eliminated because it was no longer considered a crime. However, dangerous drug crimes increased as more drug lords/cartels moved into Colorado to undermine the legalized marijuana sellers. Those who grew it legally had to follow a multitude of regulations and were taxed, while the drug lords were not regulated or taxed and could sell it cheaper in Colorado and other states.

Injuries and deaths from car crashes caused by drivers high on marijuana also increased. Recently, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety and the Highway Loss Data Institute published studies showing that the number of crashes involving injuries and fatalities increased after recreational marijuana was legalized in California, Colorado, Nevada, Oregon and Washington.

“Driving simulator tests have shown that drivers high on marijuana react more slowly, have more trouble paying attention, have more trouble keeping their car in lane, and make more mistakes when something goes wrong than when sober.”⁽⁸⁾

In Colorado, complaints about employees coming to work high have been on the rise. A college student overdosed after eating an entire marijuana chocolate chip cookie and jumping off a roof to his death. He was only supposed to eat a sixth of the cookie. Who can eat just 1/6 of a chocolate chip cookie?⁽⁹⁾ Nurses and doctors reported seeing more children in the emergency room after coming into contact with their parents’ now-legal supply of edible marijuana treats, such as candy, brownies and cookies.⁽¹⁰⁾ People living in apartments started complaining about the weed smoke that permeated their homes and the entire building. We started seeing more homeless drug addicts living along the beautiful bike paths and underpasses. Other illegal drug use increased after weed was legalized. We could no longer ride our bikes on the paths that were now littered with used needles and passed out users. A once beautiful city became a haven for drug users.

Chinese-funded and -operated marijuana farms have sprung up across the U.S. Investigations by nonprofit news site Pro Publica have found ties between Chinese diplomats, organizations affiliated with the Chinese Communist Party, local Chinese criminal syndicates and some marijuana businesses in the United States. ⁽¹¹⁾

One of the top priorities for cannabis researchers is to understand how marijuana affects the developing brain. “I am concerned about the increase in the number of people who are using cannabis daily in higher doses,” says Nora Volkow, MD, director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse. “Adolescents are more vulnerable to addiction, and once they become compulsive, cannabis can disrupt memory and learning.” In one study, 15 percent of people of all ages who had used cannabis in the past 30 days met DSMMD criteria for cannabis use disorder, and rates of this mental disorder were significantly higher among youth ages 12 to 20, at 23 percent.

Cannabis users performed worse on cognitive tests, particularly tasks that focused on attention and memory. In addition, teens who started using at a young age performed worse than those who started using later or those who did not use cannabis (Neuropsychology, Vol. 29, No. 6, 2015).⁽¹²⁾

The globalist elite who want to control society everywhere in the world welcome the legalization of marijuana, because a society in a drug-induced haze is easier to manipulate.

One of the biggest arguments for legalizing recreational marijuana is that the state will reap millions in tax dollars from the new tax on growers and sellers. They claim that this money will benefit the state. Will it? Here are three examples of where the new millions were spent in three states that legalized recreational weed:

California:

• first the revenues cover the costs of regulation and research, then
• 60% goes to anti-drug programs targeting children
• 20% for environmental programs
• 20% for public safety

Alaska:

• 25% to the general fund
• 50% to the Ministry of Public Safety, Health and Social Services and the Ministry of Corrections.
• 25% for the marijuana education fund.

Connecticut:

• 15% general fund
• 60% to social equity programs
• 25% for substance abuse treatment programs. ⁽¹³⁾

So most of the pot tax goes to regulating the consequences of legalizing pot. It doesn’t benefit the ordinary citizens of the state.

If you want homeless drug addicts to flock to your state, vote to legalize recreational marijuana use.

If you want drug lords to swallow up farmland and make them your neighbors, vote to legalize recreational marijuana.

If you want to see more crazy drivers and fatal accidents on the road, vote to legalize recreational marijuana.

If you want to see more young people get addicted, their mental health deteriorate, and their standardized test scores drop even lower, vote to legalize recreational marijuana.

I conclude that the negative consequences of legalizing recreational marijuana far outweigh the positive consequences of passing the referendum initiative, and even contradict them.

1. https://www.iihs.org/news/detail/crash-rates-jump-in-wake-of-marijuana-legalization-new-studies-show
2. https://www.axios.com/local/denver/2023/01/05/colorado-kids-marijuana-edibles
3. https://www.denver7.com/news/local-news/marijuana/mexicaanse-drugskartels-are-taking-full-advantage-of-colorados-marijuana-lawshttps://sentinelcolorado.com/metro/drug-traffickers-seek-safe-haven-amid-legale-marijuana/
4. https://www.apa.org/monitor/2023/06/marijuana-effects-brain
5. https://www.fool.com/research/marijuana-tax-revenue-by-state/
6. Illegal or Legal, Marijuana Remains an Entry-Level Drug – PMC (nih.gov)
7. https://modernfarmer.com/2021/06/illegal-marijuana-sales-still-big-even-in-states-where-pot-is-legal/
8. https://www.iihs.org/news/detail/crash-rates-jump-in-wake-of-marijuana-legalization-new-studies-show
9. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/marijuana-cookie-death-colorado-warning-labels-cdc/
10 https://www.axios.com/local/denver/2023/01/05/colorado-kids-marijuana-edibles
11. https://www.npr.org/2024/06/24/1238497863/chinese-marijuana-farms-new-mexico
12. https://www.apa.org/monitor/2023/06/marijuana-effects-brain
13. https://www.fool.com/research/marijuana-tax-revenue-by-state/
14. https://www.politicalwatchdog.com/psych_fraud/johnson.htm